Former Blue Jay Jose Bautista's bat-flip ball sells at auction for more than $28,000

Jose Bautista’s bat-flip ball has sold at auction for more than $28,000.

Lelands Auction House’s website showed Saturday morning that the ball — which was hit into the stands at Rogers Centre during Game 5 of the 2015 American League Division Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers — had sold for $28,252.80.

Open bidding closed at 10 p.m. EST on Friday. Anyone who had bid on the ball before that deadline was then entitled to re-bid in a 30-minute window.

There were 17 total bids. The reserve bid, set on Jan. 4, was $3,500.

Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a three-run homer against the Texas Rangers in Game 5 of the American League Division Series in Toronto on Wednesday, October 14, 2015. (STAN BEHAL /Toronto Sun)

Bautista hit the seventh-inning blast to put Toronto ahead 6-3 after the Rangers had taken a 3-2 lead in the top half of the frame. The homer became entrenched in Blue Jays lore when it was punctuated by his notorious bat flip.

The Blue Jays won the game to rally from a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five series. They then lost to the eventual World Series champion Kansas City Royals in the AL Championship Series.

Bautista is currently a free agent after leaving Toronto in 2017 and playing for the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in 2018.

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